NRA deletes American Rifleman Twitter account after ill-timed tweet

An ill-timed tweet from an NRA (National Rifle Association) account this morning has received a tidal wave of criticism in the wake of the James Holmes Dark Knight Rises massacre in Colorado.

Here is the tweet in question that was posted this morning at 9:20 am EST from American Rifleman before it was deleted.

Not only has the tweet been deleted but now the account appears to have been as well. When attempting to link, a Twitter notice reads, “Sorry, that page doesn’t exist.”

American Rifleman is a popular monthly shooting and firearms interest publication, owned by the National Rifle Association. In 2008 it was the 60th most-widely distributed consumer magazine. It also features an official website and YouTube page.

NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told CNN:

“A single individual, unaware of events in Colorado, tweeted a comment that is being completely taken out of context. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families and the community. NRA will not have any further comment until all the facts are known.”

A cap from the cached page of the feed indicates that what Arulanandam said is most likely accurate. Here is a grab from a the day before in which essentially the same gesture was made:

And one more back on Wednesday:

The account had over 16,000 followers before it was apparently removed. One of the last tweets before it vanquished linked to a recent article about “10 shooting movie myths” that is still posted via A.R.’s official website.